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liberia

I love sharing my thoughts about my favorite books, and getting your feedback, but for this post I would like to talk about something very real. Ebola…

It was plastered all over the news last year. People were shocked, people were horrified, people were scared. You turned on a news channel, there would be an Ebola update streaming. Gradually, however, we moved on to other things— political troubles, sports, taxes, entertainment, and the headlines no longer read “WORST EBOLA OUTBREAK IN HISTORY OUT OF CONTROL.” Phew, what a relief. So, it’s over right?

Nope. In fact, Ebola is just as bad than it was during the summer, which was when it was the height of the news. In some countries, such as Sierra Leone and Liberia, the cases are lessening. In others, like Guinea, they are just increasing. Guinea has had 230 cases in the past 21 days. Sierra Leone, the worst affected country, has had 769 and Liberia 48, which still adds up to 1047 recent cases. How many people in total, over the entire course of this terrible Ebola epidemic, have died so far? 8414. And that’s only in these three major countries.

We may be thinking: “Well, as long as it doesn’t come here, I can just go on with my life.” But the problem is, the Ebola victims can’t. Some are struggling directly with this disease while others are losing those they love. Many brave people are volunteering and risking their lives to help the victims survive the outbreak. Donations are still needed for hygienic clinics, provision of protective equipment and other supplies for Ebola response, access to medicine and medical supplies, and family support. If you’ve seen the pictures or videos of Ebola victims and clinics, it breaks your heart to see what little these people have and how much they need right now.